Parkway Drive, Blush, Life Pilot @ Hindley Street Music Hall, Adelaide 4/5/2026
When an arena headlining band decides to bring it down a notch, strip back and dig out the oldies, it becomes a hot ticket. A chance to hear songs recorded raw and now played by those same people with years of class, skill and precision added to their armoury, cannot be missed.
Parkway Drive are doing this with their first two albums on back-to-back nights, being played in full, to packed audiences across Australia.
The last time PWD came through town, they sold out Australia’s arenas before you could say Darker Still. So, to see them in a venue a quarter of the size is magical in itself. For two nights as well? Wowee.
However, the bands journey in recent years has been tinged with controversy and playing and celebrating music from a time that in the bands career that is unravelling in the public and legal domains, no matter how they have distanced themselves, could be considered insensitive to those involved during that time and cannot be ignored.
That though is for another time, the packed-out venue is raring for tonight’s Killing With A Smile and tomorrow’s Horizons playlist.
With this being the first night of two, a small note will be taken towards both support acts which include Adelaide’s Lifepilot, who as usual are chaotic, fun and brilliant energy. The manic vibe translating to a crowd roaring already and Blush, who bring a dynamic to the evening of calmness before the storm, as they perform a brand of alt rock that sways and grooves, bringing everyone back in line to pace themselves.
Parkway Drive open with album opener Gimme a D, No fanfare, no walking on music, just straight in your face blast of raw Australian metalcore within seconds of the lights going down. They are literally bringing this back to basics.
No flames, no spinning drum kits, just the music that arguably started a genre in this country, and then then became the country’s biggest metal band. And the crowd are all for it.
Running through the album in order, smoke fills the room, lights flash from lightning behind the band, accentuating the size of the men. McCall roams the riser like Bane from the Batman movies. This is his world now and he roars throughout the night, accompanied by a mass of Adelaide voices for the mosh anthems.
It’s clear to see with how clean the riffs and crushing the drums sound that this band is quite rightly an arena band. They are far too big for this venue, almost feeling caged. The overflow of surfers, McCall on the barrier, security working overtime, all during the final tracks of the album complimenting the carnage all around.
Once the album is done, the band throw down some classics throughout the career. Prey, Carrion and Wild Eyes amongst the party atmosphere of mosh heaven, sweaty bodies, shirtless torsos and missing shoes.
With there being a night two, and the Horizons album to be run out, coming up, it’s natural to hold judgement on how good the show was however for a bouncing floor, hoarse voices and a band with the bad luck of running over a black cat looking for solace goes, Parkway Drive smashed it out of the park and reminded everyone of why they hit the heights. Great showmanship, even better music. Roll on night two.
Live Review By Iain McCallum